Ivy Coach College Admissions Blog

Yesterday, we wrote about the scandal at Horace Mann, a prestigious private school in New York City. To recap, a student at Horace Mann sent a disparaging letter about another student to a number of college admissions offices (presumably at the colleges the student has intentions of applying to). Of course, this is surely not the first time that a high school student has done such a thing. They’re high school students, after all! Anyhow, Horace Mann has had quite the reaction to the vindictive letter. They’ve had a meeting with seniors and they’ve sent a letter out to students and parents of students stating how this does not reflect the school and how this behavior cannot be tolerated.

Unfortunately for Horace Mann, “Business Insider,” “The Wall Street Journal,” and “New York Magazine” among other news outlets have all published accounts of the scandal. This is not good press for the school. As stated in a letter from the Horace Mann college counseling office to seniors and parents of seniors, “When a member of our community does something so egregious, it makes people question what’s happening here. It feeds the perception that we are hypercompetitive to the point of being unhealthy. This isn’t a good message for our students, our families, or for people who are on the outside looking in. Certainly, college admissions officers are included in this last group.”

It seems the college counseling office at Horace Mann is doing some PR damage control…big time! Do you think that their intentions are good? Do you think that they’re too concerned with how others view them? Or do you think that they have good intentions…that they genuinely think it’s disgusting that one of their students would do such a thing? Lastly, do you think they were surprised that one of their students would do such a thing? We don’t! But we’re curious to hear your thoughts on the matter.